Combat Patrol + Flying Blade: Why Attack On MY Turn?

[Backlash3906]

I was looking over the special conditions for this fun large damage die weapon, and naturally thought of Combat Patrol's enabling extra attacks of opportunity across a larger area. So I was looking for two pieces of advice.

1. How to get the most range out of the Flying Blade's threatened area? This applies not just to weapon reach, but also to base speed, as Combat Patrol is still limited by the wielder's speed.

2. How to enable to most attacks of opportunity per round? Combat Reflexes is a pre-req for Combat Patrol, but at what point does the increased DEX (in point buy) start becoming too cost-intensive in terms of Attack and Damage bonuses?

From the SRD on each:

Flying Blade
Benefit: You fight with a flying blade by spinning it about your head or by snapping it toward an opponent. The flying blade is a clumsy weapon and receives a –2 penalty on attack rolls, but when you make attacks of opportunity provoked by movement, you receive a +2 bonus on attack rolls instead of the penalty.

Combat Patrol
Prerequisites: Combat reflexes, Mobility, base attack bonus +5.

Benefit: As a full-round action, you may set up a combat patrol, increasing your threatened area by 5 feet for every 5 points of your base attack bonus. Until the beginning of your next turn, you may make attacks of opportunity against any opponent in this threatened area that provokes attacks of opportunity. You may move as part of these attacks, provided your total movement before your next turn does not exceed your speed. Any movement you make provokes attacks of opportunity as normal.

[Backlash3906]

Advice on general optimization of Attacks of Opportunity?

[haremlord]

My main suggestion is to add Fortuitous to the flying blade

http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/magic-weapons/magic-weapon-special-abil ities/fortuitous wrote:

Price +1 bonus; Slot none; CL 8th; Weight —; Aura moderate transmutation

DESCRIPTION

This special ability can be placed only on melee weapons. A fortuitous weapon grants the wielder more attacks of opportunity. Once per round, when the wielder of a fortuitous weapon hits with an attack of opportunity, he can make a second attack of opportunity with this weapon against that foe at a –5 penalty.

If you are playing mythic, also take Deadly Dodge and/or Ever Ready.

If you are into teamwork feats, take Paired Opportunist.

[Kysune]

Just pick a Cleric with the Growth domain, grab Fate's Favored trait and prep Divine Favor. Either cast Enlarge Person on yourself, or Swift action Enlarge for 1 round and enjoy the increased threat range you now have. You'll want 14dex and Combat Reflexes, but other than that you're golden.

[Lune]

Things that can help you increase your reach in this build:
Enlarge Person
Pliant Gloves
Longarm Bracers
The Longarm spell
A reach weapon
Combat Patrol

Outside of Combat Reflexes the only thing that is adds more AoOs per turn I can think of is Superior Reflexes from Kensai Magus which you have to go pretty deep to get. It allows you to get additional AoO based on your Int bonus which can stack with your Dex bonus.

You may want to look into an Order of the Dragon Cavalier with the Honor Guard archetype.
It stacks well with the Helpful or Helpful Halfling Trait depending on how it is ruled.
Look into the Bodyguard feat.
If you do end up going with Halfling then 1 level in to Mouser Swashbuckler archetype can be very helpful and you may want to think about actually decreasing your size. If you do this then Monkey Shine is a good feat as well.

[Lune]

Oh, aside from Fortuitous you may also want to look at Benevolent as a weapon enhancement. The armor property is better, but the weapon enhancement is also good.

[rorek55]

another thing- I love using weapons such as the flying Talon, (10ft) adds a lot of fun flavor, however, things like the Halberd etc. work as well.

Trip weapons+ improved/greater trip is super fun for reach builds-
take lunge, on your turn, trip, you are say, level 8 fighter, trip would look like this-

BaB 8, +Str 5, +6 (trip weaopon, trip feats) +1 weapon focus, +1 magic weapon, +1 weapon training. total of +22 CMB at level 8 to trip

when you trip, your target provokes, next turn, they stand, provoking, move, which you, with a 15ft range, (without enlarge person) provoke again, you trip him, get two additional attacks, (thanks to fortuitous), then full round a prone dude. (after taking a step back) rinse and repeat.

[Dafydd]

A couple thoughts, mostly around making this work with a BloodRager

Bloodrager gives you Full BaB, and Fast Movement (as long as you wear light or Mithral medium armor)

The Arcane Bloodline has a nasty little power at 12, Caster's Scourge. Basically, combat reflexes, but only to hit casters. Additionally, you get Haste as an effect while bloodraging (or displacement, but haste seems better here considering the movement restriction) and spider climb for when you need to get closer.

On top of that, Enlarge Person for almost free, whenever you rage. Greater Bloodrage. Long Arm is also a thing for Blood Ragers.

The increase threatened area means you will also be making casters even sadder as they can not escape your reach.

Oh god, this guys reach is disgusting now.

15ft Base, (Enlarge Person)
+5ft with Longarm Bracers.
+10ft with Combat Patrol (level 12)

30ft threatened area, with the hole in the middle, coverable with a Cestus or some other similar weapon. Oh, and you could have 5 attacks of opportunity, 2 of which must be made vs casters trying to cast. Increase to 7 with a belt of Physical Perfection +2. (9 and then 11 as you increase the belt)

[rorek55]

^ eh, I prefer the ole fighter with potions of enlarge :P

[Lune]

rorek55: You never get multiple AoO per provoking action even with Fortuitous.

Also, Lunge does not increase your reach when it isn't your turn.

Dafydd: Good catch on Caster's Scourge.

If you take his suggestions I suggest looking into Disruptive and Spellbreaker. The Step Up line of feats might be helpful as well.

Instead of Cestus use a Spiked Gauntlet as it leaves your hand free for spellcasting.

[rorek55]

Lune wrote:

rorek55: You never get multiple AoO per provoking action even with Fortuitous.

Also, Lunge does not increase your reach when it isn't your turn.

Dafydd: Good catch on Caster's Scourge.

If you take his suggestions I suggest looking into Disruptive and Spellbreaker. The Step Up line of feats might be helpful as well.

Instead of Cestus use a Spiked Gauntlet as it leaves your hand free for spellcasting.

um, what? the wording specifically states you get an additional attack at -5 against the target that provoked

- doesn't have too. you let him get in 10 ft, trip, AoO from greater trip+fortuitous, step back 5ft, lunge to 15 full attack. He should be dead at this point or when he stands up again.

[Lune]

Scratch that. Just re-read Fortuitous. You are correct.

edit: Hm. I have some immediate uses for that.

[Serisan]

Enlarge really helps, but remember that you get a -2 Dex modifier while it's up. This makes 14 Dex insufficient for AoO builds. I had 16 on my AoO monster to start and I'm pushing it up as I level.

As much as I like Arcane bloodline for Bloodrager, Aberrant is better for AoO builds because it provides an additional 5' of natural reach while raging. This applies differently than the Reach quality on a weapon, so you absolutely need to have something that threatens adjacent to fill the gap. I recommend Improved Unarmed Strike, which you can get at level 1 via the Blood Conduit archetype.

My current build is Brawler 1/Bloodrager 3 and I refer to him as The Ender of Encounters.

[rorek55]

Serisan wrote:

Enlarge really helps, but remember that you get a -2 Dex modifier while it's up. This makes 14 Dex insufficient for AoO builds. I had 16 on my AoO monster to start and I'm pushing it up as I level.

As much as I like Arcane bloodline for Bloodrager, Aberrant is better for AoO builds because it provides an additional 5' of natural reach while raging. This applies differently than the Reach quality on a weapon, so you absolutely need to have something that threatens adjacent to fill the gap. I recommend Improved Unarmed Strike, which you can get at level 1 via the Blood Conduit archetype.

My current build is Brawler 1/Bloodrager 3 and I refer to him as The Ender of Encounters.

this is true, but hopefully you will have other buffs/spells to off set that by the time it gets important (around 7-8)

[Andy Ferguson]

Combat patrol is a bit of a trap. It sounds really cool, but you are using a full round action every round for only 5ft of reach until after level 9. If you are going to be above lvl 9 it might be worth it, but before that point just drink a potion of long arm as a standard action to get you that same reach.

Wolf style plus pushing assault it really nice with an AoO build, knock them back 5 ft and lower there movement speed for a round.

[Lune]

Andy Ferguson: I think it might be possible that you are not considering the full extent of what Combat Patrol gives. It is a very powerful feat for certain builds. Here is one example.